Even after his death, Tim Hetherington’s final photographs reveal the heartache, humanity and humdrum face of violent conflict.

Twenty striking images by the award-winning multimedia journalist from England – including several recovered from his camera after his death in Libya on April 20, 2011 – are on display in Fruitlands Museum in Harvard.

"Exhibits like this might help people realize the hardships and dangers journalists and photojournalists face every day.’’

Organized by the Bronx Documentary Center in New York, "Visions: Tim Hetherington" puts a moving, often disturbing face on revolutionary violence during the Arab Spring.

A bearded man and two young children display an artillery round, a grenade and a bottle of soda like vegetables they just bought in the market.

Dressed in blue jeans, a scarf and baseball cap worn backward, a young man fires an AK-47 over a brick wall with casual aplomb.

Blood trickling from his mouth, a dead man wrapped in black and white blankets lies on the floor of a drab room.

Volmar said he’d hoped to include Hetherington’s work in an Sept. 1, 2011 exhibit he’d organized for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but there had been delays after his death communicating with his estate that controlled his images.

Despite his frequent subject matter, Hetherington said, "I have never seen myself as a war photographer.’’

"This is about narrative. I’m very open to all visual conceits and possibilities at my disposal to better explain to people the ideas I’m exploring. … I like to include everything to weave a tapestry to explain to someone, ‘What happened,’ " he said in an interview cited in wall text at the show.

Born in December 1970, Hetherington earned international recognition and many awards for photographs and films he made in Africa, Afghanistan and Libya. He is best known for photos and film he shot for "The Devil Came on Horseback’’ about Sudan and "Restrepo,’’ a documentary he made with American author Sebastian Junger about U.S. troops in the Konegal Valley of Afghanistan.

Hetherington died from wounds caused by mortar rounds fired by Libyan troops while covering the civil war.

While documenting street fighting, Hetherington seemed primarily interested in taking photos that show how the immediacy of violence impacts combatants and civilians alike.

A hand grenade rests on a bench next to a handsome young man who looks with sorrowful eyes into the camera. Is he a fighter resting after battle or waiting for his next assignment?

A man wearing a hood, protective goggles and a military style sweater flashes a peace sign.

A middle-aged man with a crazed look waves a semi-automatic pistol while riding in the back of a pickup truck with Hetherington.

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Viewers must decide whether he’s displaying revolutionary enthusiasm or threatening people in the truck.

The most unsettling thing about these photographs is Hetherington’s ability to record violence erupting in the midst of everyday scenes

A man with a rifle crouches behind a tree that barely hides along a road littered with the debris of conflict.

Dandelions grow from a sidewalk next to a discarded glove.

In Hetherington’s last photo, a military helmet with a bullet hole through its top sits in a sandy lot next to what appear to be body bags.

Volmar described Hetherington as a "compassionate and idealistic’’ artist who hoped his images would help viewers recognize the humanity of the people in his photos.

He expressed hope Hetherington’s "Visions’’ would remind viewers of the dangers photojournalists face just doing their jobs.

"We often forget the human cost too often paid by those who bring us world news every day,’’ he said. "Hopefully, after seeing Hetherington’s ‘Visions,’ they won’t take it for granted.’’